Jason Delgado
Florida’s quest to court In-N-Out Burger turned ugly Thursday, pitting two officials against one another in a Twitter war-of-words.
The dust-up came early Thursday after the burger chain revealed no plans to relocate to Florida despite the best efforts of state officials.
Throughout October, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis pitched Florida as a refuge from California’s “absurd” COVID-19 mandates and invited the burger joint to relocate.
Not everyone, however, is a fan of the effort. Rep. Anna Eskamani, a progressive Orlando-area lawmaker, voiced ire on Twitter.
“Here’s an idea! Instead of trying to grab headlines (and waste $) in a poor attempt to lure out-of-state companies to FL, let’s invest in our small businesses and entrepreneurs instead!” Eskamani wrote. “It won’t get as much attention and will require real work but it’s worth it!!!”
Patronis later fired back at Eskamani.
“First off, you’re the kind of person (Democratic California Gov.) Gavin Newsom would hire to shutdown businesses like In-N-Out Burger,” Patronis wrote. “Second, what do you know about jobs? You worked at Planned Parenthood and support DEFUNDING the police. (Thank God Gov. Ron DeSantis is the Governor and not you.)”
Eskamani’s remarks underscore the frustrations of some — particularly Democrats — who’ve grown tired of Patronis’ Hail-Mary invitations.
Over the summer, Patronis welcomed other mandate-frustrated businesses including Tesla and SpaceX. He also pitched to host the 2021 Olympics and urged the New York Stock Exchange to call Florida home.
For his part, Patronis serves on the Board of Enterprise Florida, whose responsibilities include attracting business to the state.
In a separate Twitter post, Patronis vowed to keep at it. A successful business, he said, “can’t move on a dime.” He also teased that In-N-Out burger will indeed relocate, saying it’s not a question of “IF but WHEN.”
“After all — you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” Patronis wrote.
8 comments
Impeach Biden
November 11, 2021 at 4:15 pm
Sounds like Eskamani has the same business acumen as AOC.
Ron Ogden
November 11, 2021 at 7:44 pm
The Republican is trying to bring business, jobs and taxes into Florida, the Democrat is trying to grab headlines for being an anti-business pis-pot, and FLAPOL is gleefully accommodating her. Where’s the news?
tjb
November 12, 2021 at 9:06 am
DeSantis and Christina Pushaw are always trying to grab headlines to create division and not have Floridians thinking about the 60,480 Covid deaths in our state. Florida has 6.5% of the USA population but sadly we have 8% of the Covid deaths in the USA? Looks like DeSantis’s policies to prevent Covid deaths are not working.
Impeach Biden
November 12, 2021 at 3:16 pm
He elected to keep the state open. Thank you DeSantis for not succumbing to the shutdown policies of the Blue States. People and businesses are flocking to this state. Don’t even get me started on the policies of Dumb and Dumber (Joe + Giggles).
Arthro
November 12, 2021 at 1:34 pm
Go, Jimmy!!! Eskamani would have Florida in economic misery if we listened to her. She’s a junior AOC – clueless job-killer without a brain and no relevant business experience. People and companies are coming to Florida because we have a strong Governor (and CFO) who support free enterprise. Thank God for Ron DeSantis.
David
November 12, 2021 at 11:09 pm
Arthro,
It appears that you are the one that is clueless. Its precisely those people with the “relevant business experience” that have got us into this mess we are dealing with in this country.
All of the “job creators” not paying their fair share of taxes and getting all of these government breaks and subsidies because they are able to pay for lobbyist to do their bidding.
Please, do not talk about “free enterprise” and make it appear that its a fair and open process to all because it is not.
Like the saying goes sadly, money talks and bs walks.
Charlotte Greenbarg
November 16, 2021 at 7:50 am
Blaming people with business experience for Biden’s mess is just another deny and distract tactic from the far left. Good parrot!
Jose
November 12, 2021 at 7:49 pm
Great hamburgers, also go after jack in the box
Comments are closed.